Pipeline A Harbinger

Regarding the TransCanada oil pipeline, protecting groundwater in the Ogallala Aquifer is justified. The pipeline owners should be held to high standards, particularly in light of recent large petroleum releases. But this pipeline is a harbinger of much bigger problems. It conveys energy-intensive tar-sand bitumen that has been extracted from strip mines and underground steam injection well fields in Canada, processed with natural gas and water and pumped thousands of miles to refineries here. It is only being processed because the cheap, easy oil has been developed. We are left with strip mines, deep water and increasing risk. Those against the pipeline should be concerned with more than the potential for a petroleum release in Nebraska. Ignoring increasingly problematic oil sources and our unwavering consumption and dependence is much more dangerous. ((03 DEC 2010))